@lpetiti lolz 😂😂😂

@Koaila-art Thanks, Koaila:)

@Frost-Drive definitely something light and almost handwritten, like a letter

@Heather-Boyd thanks for the feedback! We are planning to put together a page about building your portfolio to link to on the home page (I agree that it is redundant).

@burvantill Nice, I'll check it out!

Hey, welcome to the forums! I love your work, especially the last one. I hope I can create something like that some day!

Thanks man! Awesome tips. I think that it would take some time to retrain my hand to shift from wrist movements and have the same precision, but better start now than later.
Your post made me think of how a PT would teach the right technique to lift weights at the gym from the start, but we are often times on our own when it comes to use a pencil correctly.
Thanks again for sharing your hard earned first hand knowledge, really apreciate it.

HI @ambiirae, this looks really good! I love the mist and the feeling of remoteness. It’s really evocative.

I am by no means an expert, but you could look at creating more contrast. I’ve been looking at some paintings of night time scenes and, outside the focal area, objects are very dark and desaturated. Maybe think about where the light is coming from, how the light touches the objects around it and also how the sky is reflected in the water. (At the moment the river looks too blue I think.)

I took the liberty of upping the contrast on your image, darkening the edges and desaturating some areas to make the torches stand out. I hope that's ok. I wanted to see if I could evoke more of a feeling of night time. 🤔

svsambiirae.jpg

If you’re an SVS member Will has a great class called "painting colour and light". 🙂

@K-Flagg Thanks for sharing the link! I bought a bunch of reasonably priced posters. My kids will be very, VERY happy! Thanks so much!
.
.
.
jk, this stinks but keep in mind, like everyone else said, they probably won't get away with it for long. I think Will Terry's podcast on the subject was pretty spot on and reassuring. Also, it has to be at least a little flattering that they picked your work to steal right (or I could be a bit of a freak for feeling that way🤔 )?

@Annaaronson oh thank you so much! It was honestly VERY scary for me to try YouTube. I was teased a lot about my voice and appearance as a kid so I had to truly emotionally shut that part of my mind down 😂. Luckily my husband is editing the videos for me - I don’t think I could have done it without him. But it gets easier every time with such kind feedback like yours! Thank you!!

That the parents are artists and have other children doesn't really add into the equation...their choices aren't your responsibility. I totally understand the impulse to take their circumstances into consideration, but you need to do right for yourself and respect the value of your time and experience. If you want to contribute to young artists, you could probably find a local charity that helps kids with less opportunity to create.

You might want to make it clear that you need to have a quiet work area with the child, and that the other children will be occupied elsewhere during the lesson (if they are younger than the 11 year old). Otherwise, you might have them joining in.

@ambiirae You're really close to great piece. I tried to preserve your style and chin is untouched (we need more diversity in portraits).

Untitled-1-edits.jpg

For the face I..

Moved the nose off center. Enlarged the left eye to match the right. Nudged the left eye a little to the right. Gave the left eye some more white. Moved the lips down. Shortened the left eyebrow.

I played around with shadows under the neck and blush on the face for rendering.

The fur texture looks good to me. All I recommend is to add line work to unify the piece. I just drew in the lines freehand; no method (I did a lazy execution, but you get the idea).

As for the hair, I think the bangs are too thick. Maybe make it a more stringy, add gaps. For the bun part, the lines need to less conformed and should follow the skull shape. Be conscious how hair can be light in some areas, weighted down in others.

My veredict on the tablet displays I've owned:

— 13" Cintiq Companion: Super reliable but screen too small, some parallax issues but none critical, served me for many years though before selling it.
— 11" iPad Pro + Apple Pencil: Probably the most natural flow and accuracy I've ever had on a tablet display. Cons: Screen size (great for portablity though) and $$$.
— 24" XP-Pen Artist Pro: Got this one recently because I finally wanted a decent screen size so I went all in and didn't have $3k+ to blow on a Cintiq (paid north of $600 for it — special offer). Although I have desk space for this it's maybe too big for me — the sweet spot lies somewhere between 18" and 22" screen size. Has a gorgeous 2K screen but I've had issues with the USB connection and non-responsive pencil so it is now stored waiting to be serviced soon. Bummed? You bet. 😢

@Moana-Maureen I'm also waiting for the upload of the newest critque arena 😦

@NessIllustration Ah, you make a good point! I think that's part of the reason it's a little tricky to define! Re: colors, it seems there's a balance to strike between being colorful enough to appeal as children's art, but not too colorful that it reads as overdone.

@Melissa-Bailey-0 Reading too much?? I wasn't aware such a thing existed!!

Oh my gosh! I hadn't heard of Jonathan D. Voss, but I'm already in love. I just requested his books from the library so I can take a closer look! Thanks for the suggestion!

And sure! Here's the link to my dream portfolio. It's a little scatter-brained (like me, lol!) but I think the general direction is texture-y and watercolor-y. I'm focusing on picture books right now, but I think my plan is to eventually expand into both PB and MG.

@Heather-Boyd I have a thin metal lip that is screwed to the bottom of the table top so it won't slide off.

@Nathalie-Kranich thanks for giving us that update. So glad that it worked out for you and that you're continuing to have an awesome experience with this publisher!

@Laurasketches add some smaller poppies around dorothy and the lion

My pleasure, @Judy-Elizabeth-Wilson -- looking forward to reading your sweet story!

@Ari-Sorokin I’m not an expert in that, but if they’re good go for them. If you’re in an area that’s do in person classes again and you’re comfortable with it, there is nothing better to do than to learn from a live model. But even beyond that, you don’t always have to pay for online classes. Pick up books and study from those. Andrew Loomis and his Figure Drawing for All It’s Worth is amazing. Richard Williams has a series of videos on YouTube (if you’re going into animation you should be aware of who Williams is, if you aren’t already), the Drawn to Life series is also good as well.